"THE MAN FROM DAKOTA."

Taranaki Daily News, 19 September 1940, Page 12

"THE MAN FROM DAKOTA."

DRAMA AT OPERA HOUSE. For real power of acting Wallace Beery has few peers, and in the types he plays so well, the rough, tough man with the heart of gold, there is no one to approach him. He is at his characteristic best in "The Man From Dakota, now showing at the Opera House, New Plymouth. He is a sergeant in the Federal Army in the American Civil War, and he and a lieutenant, played by John Howard, escape from a Confederate prison'camp. The sergeant's idea is to take the shortest route to safety, but when they come across information of great value the lieutenant decides that they must break through the enemy lines. On their journeyings they find themselves saddled with a girl, Dolores del Rio, who is invaluable because she alone can read the Russian notes on a map they are using. Beery is superb as the uncouth woodsman who is equal to any emergency in the nightmare journey through country packed with troops. Next to his top-flight acting. the picture is memorable for the deftly provided background of the war with an authentic atmosphere. There is a fine supporting programme featuring the training of a woman lion tamer. A clever cartoon about bears is singularly appropriate because Father Bear is a brilliant caricature of Wallace Beery.